This pattern was originally published as Twisted’s contribution to the 2018 Rose City Yarn Crawl, March 1 – 4, 2018 in Portland, Oregon. Each shop’s pattern(s) will be available free with purchase at that shop during the Rose City Yarn Crawl. All patterns will also be available for download individually or as part of our 2018 Collection: Waterways: 2018 Rose City Yarn Crawl Pattern Collection.

Forty miles east of Portland on the Columbia River, the Bonneville Dam was built to power New Deal economic development for humans but presented a literally insurmountable barrier for fish. Fish ladders were built to help hundreds of thousands of salmon and other fish make their spawning runs upriver each year. Evoking the stair-step structure of the fish ladders, this cowl uses a triple-crochet stitch and long chains to create a loose, airy, netlike fabric — more suitable for catching well-accessorized humans than speeding salmon.